Pardon the pun, but the Twins reportedly meeting with a representative for Jose Bautista came out of left field today.
According to MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger, Twins Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine have done their due diligence in talking to Bautista’s reps. But even Bollinger points out that signing Bautista would be a long shot considering he’s 36 years old and Minnesota is coming off a 103-loss season.
“Joey Bats” smacked 22 homers in 116 games with the Blue Jays last season. It was the first time in seven years that he wasn’t an All-Star. But he can still kill the ball. According to SportsNet, the average exit velocity off Bautista’s bat in 2016 was 92.6 mph, the third hardest average in all of baseball.
In 21 career games at Target Field Bautista is hitting .349 with 14 homers, 5 doubles, 23 RBI and a mind-boggling 1.324 OPS.
Wherever he signs it’ll likely be for a big chunk of money. He turned down a $17.2 million qualifying offer from the Blue Jays after the season, according to the Boston Globe.
